And Butterfly Kisses at Night
by SaikonoYume
Summary: KagomeInu Yasha Camping out one night, Kagome takes a midnight bath in a cold stream, and scares Inu Yasha to death when he realizes she's gone.


…And Butterfly Kisses at Night…

This is my first-ever posting of an Inu Yasha fanfic, probably because it's the first Inu Yasha story I've ever written. It's a one-shot, but if you can convince me to write more and provide an adequate plot for me to go off of, or at least an idea, I may change my mind. You might also be able to convince me to write more chapters in which I pair up the rest of the world.

.o0OO0o.

The sun had all ready begun to set over the world, casting its orange, red, pink, and purple glow upon the earth. A halo of golden white light was etched around the edges of a forest that stood, looking dark and forlorn, on a hill illuminated by the dying sunlight. Inside the forest, hardly anything moved. The birds had all ready resigned themselves to their comfortable nests, their dusk chorus finished. Animals were curled up in their dens, laying on each other for the warmth that the night never provided. Even the flowers had curled into themselves, hiding from the coldness of the night air, waiting for the next morning when they would be awakened to the live-giving sun by the birds' chorus.

Along a naked and lonely path walked the only creatures still moving in the forest, their footsteps ringing through the quiet of the night. Each clearly distinguishable from the other, the six walked in companionable silence. The group consisted of three yokai, a hanyou, a priest, two human girls, and a rather disgruntled piece of metal. One of the two girls was beside the piece of metal, pushing it down the path she traveled. One of the yokai was curled in a wicker basket on the front, soft snores emanating from its small body. The other yokai was riding, hidden, in the hanyou's hair while he stalked forward grumpily, his arms crossed; his eyes narrowed in a glare that could kill.

The other human girl walked behind the piece of metal, deep in thought, completely unaware of the priest who was next to her. Such light acceptance of this particular priest's presence was something that was, by most, considered foolhardy. The silence of the forest at dusk was shattered, then, by a shout from the second young woman.

"You pervert!" she screamed in an unnaturally shrill voice. This shriek was followed by a firm slap to the man's face, and it left a red print in the shape of the woman's hand.

Rubbing his face heartily with his sleeve, the priest looked at the glowering woman. "Sango, I—"

"Say not another word, or I'll personally disconnect your hand from your arm, you-good-for nothing perverted priest!" Sango growled at Miroku, looking like she was actually going to carry that threat out.

Kagome cleared her throat. "Guys, please. Inu Yasha says there's a hot spring up ahead and a clearing where we'll be able to spend the night. Leave each other intact until then, okay?" she suggested with a smile.

Sango turned from Miroku and began speed-walking towards the clearing that was up ahead of her, ignoring the rolled eyes she was getting from Kagome. "I won't stand for him touching me anymore," she muttered to herself. "If that man is really a monk, then I'm… then I'm Sesshoumaru's personal slave!"

Miroku picked himself off the ground and moved to walk beside Kagome. "I really wish I knew why she keeps hitting me," he said with a smile.

Inu Yasha snorted. "Feh, if you haven't realized it by now, you're either incredibly dense or just incredibly oblivious to everything," he growled.

Miroku's smile soured and was redirected from Kagome to the hanyou beside her. "You're too kind, Inu Yasha," he snarled in reply. He sped up his pace, disappearing around the bend in the path.

"Miroku's a one-man show, isn't he?" Kagome asked the air.

"A one-man show?" Inu Yasha asked, staring ahead and arching his perfectly sculpted eyebrows.

Kagome shook her head. "Ignore it, Inu Yasha. Come on, we're already at the clearing, and I'm dying to wash up." She leaned her bike against a tree and picked Shippou up from where he was curled in the basket on the front.

Sango and Miroku had all ready laid out the sleeping bags, so Kagome placed the small kitsune yokai on hers before turning to Miroku, who was placing a ward around their camp to make them invisible to dangerous yokai. "Where's Sango?" she asked.

"Right here," Sango said from behind Kagome. Her hair fell straight and was still sopping wet from her bath. "I just took a quick dip, nothing serious," she explained. "There isn't a hot spring here, just a small lake that's fed from a mountain stream, so it's pretty cold." She winked. "If you think you're up to it, you can take a dip, too."

Kagome shivered. "Maybe not… I hate cold baths. I think I'll pass. I took a bath this morning at the village, anyway, so I should be okay for another day," she replied to Sango.

From the tree he had decided to take up residence in, Inu Yasha snorted. "You smell like shit, Kagome. You should go take a bath," his voice said.

Kagome crossed her arms. "Osuwari!" she shouted. A red and silver blur fell from the tree it had heretofore been sitting in and slammed into the ground with considerable force.

"That…really…hurt, you idiot…" Inu Yasha growled.

Kagome didn't say anything in reply, choosing to slide into her bedroll instead of trading barbs. "Good night, everyone," she said, settling in and pulling the top over her shoulders.

Shippou curled up against Kagome's back happily, his little kitsune feet kicking at the air as he dreamed.

Sango crawled into her bedroll as well, which was beside Kagome's. She glowered at Miroku in his roll on the other side of the clearing. "If I feel anything against my rear end, I'll be assuming it's you making an ass of yourself and I'll rip you apart, got that?" she demanded.

Miroku nodded from where he was laying. "Sure thing, Sango," he muttered sleepily.

.o0OO0o.

The only source of light came from the moon as it hung in the sky, but clouds covered it, as they covered the numerous stars. But, nonetheless, the moonbeams pierced the gloomy darkness of the almost perfectly quiet forest, bringing a soft, almost romantic light to the earth. The only sounds in the forest were the quiet hooting of owls in the dark as they searched for the foolhardy field mice that dared leave the safe confines of their little hovels. Another sound, strangely alien, rang out like a gong through the forest a moment later.

Kagome's foot froze above the cold surface of the small lake, not daring to move for fear that she would be heard. There was nothing to give her away, so she did her best to move the rest of the way into the water soundlessly. She failed, obviously, but the noise she made was so minimal that she didn't think it would matter. It was doubtful that even he would hear her. Besides, he was asleep.

She frowned, wondering why she was allowing herself to fret over him. She didn't care about him at all, so why should she be thinking about him? Kagome bent her knees and sank into the frigid waters up to her shoulders, shivering.

At any other time, she would have plunged into the small lake head first to get herself acquainted with the temperature instantly. Of course, tonight, that would have been foolhardy. If she dove into the water, she would surely wake all of her traveling companions, and she didn't want that. She wanted peace and quiet. So she kneeled, with the water up to her shoulders, shivering uncontrollably.

She stifled a sneeze and then sank, in agonizing slowness, under the water to wet her hair. When Kagome felt her lungs would burst, she slowly raised herself from the water. Sopping wet, having been completely covered by the water, she was no longer so affected by the freezing coldness.

Kagome moved slowly through the water, using the frog-like motions of the breast stroke, heading into a strip of moonlight. How romantic, she thought, it would be if Prince Charming appeared now, while she was bathing like this, and whisked her away to his castle in the clouds.

Kagome ducked under the surface again, and then stood, allowing turrets of water to gush off her body and rejoin the water in the lake. She closed her eyes, raising her head to the heavens, bathing herself in the pure light that shown from the moon.

.o0OO0o.

Inu Yasha's eyes snapped open the minute he heard the sound of someone walking silently through the clearing. He moved noiselessly on his branch, shifting his position so that he could see into the area everyone was sleeping in.

There was nothing out of the ordinary, nothing to make him leave him lofty perch to search more thoroughly. Miroku was sleeping soundly on the right side of the clearing, and Sango was on the opposite side, sprawled out haphazardly. Beside her, Shippou slept with Kagome. Like he thought, there was no need to—wait.

Inu Yasha's eyes focused on Kagome's bedroll, his keen eyesight picking up such fine details as the very weaving of the fabric. What was missing from the picture he was looking at, he wondered silently. The realization slammed into him violently, and the shock of the revelation nearly propelled him off his branch.

She wasn't in her bedroll; it was just Shippou. A yokai must have gotten through Miroku's ward and stolen Kagome with all of her Shikon shards.

"Damn!" Inu Yasha muttered.

Sitting back on his branch, Inu Yasha quieted himself, listening closely to all the sounds in the forest, searching the sounds of movement. There was a noise in the direction of the mountain that fed the small lake, the noiseless roar of an owl in flight, a field mouse scurrying across the grounds, but all these sounds were inconsequential to him. So he disregarded his sense of hearing and began to sniff the air under his nose.

Inu Yasha caught Kagome's scent easily and quickly, but, to his surprise, none other with hers. If that was the case, then who took her? A new idea came to him then. She hadn't been taken; she had gotten up and gone to the spring. But why would she go now, in the dead of night, instead of earlier, when she was protected?

Inu Yasha growled softly and began moving through the treetops, thinking of all the ways he was going to yell at her for being a complete idiot and total fool.

"Sure, fine…" he muttered to himself. "You go now when there's no one to protect the damned shards from being stolen. I'm positive you planned this. You did, didn't you, Ka…go…me…" Inu Yasha trailed off as he landed on the nearest tree branch over to lake.

Kagome stood before him, water cascading off her body, flowing into the lake. She was naked in the middle of a shaft of pure, silver moonlight. Inu Yasha almost forgot how to breathe, as he looked at her, all of his carefully buried and locked away feelings towards her shooting up to the surface. He felt himself leaning further forward on the branch, but he couldn't pull himself back.

Why did she choose to take a bath at night in the moonlight?

.o0OO0o.

Kagome whirled when she heard the same sound that often greeted her ears after she yelled "osuwari" at Inu Yasha. Her heart leaped about in her chest in a most unhealthy manner as she peered at the shore through the dark night.

"Who's there?" she called weakly, ducking under the surface of the water up to her shoulders.

Before Kagome could move too far forward, she saw a red shape on the shore. Her anger flared instantly and she nearly stormed up to the annoying hanyou who had been watching her. She was so mad at him for watching her bathe that she was sure she would sink down to the most degrading levels imaginable. She was ready to rip Inu Yasha's head off his shoulders, the perverted voyeur that he was.

"Inu Yasha, what are you doing here!" Kagome demanded.

He picked himself off the ground, raising his head and staring across the waters at her blankly.

She felt a lump rising in her throat as she wondered why he wasn't shouting back at her like he always did. There was definitely something wrong, Kagome figured, as she made her way closer.

"Inu… Yasha…?" she queried again, softly, when she was to the limits of how far she could travel.

He moved then, fast as lightning, and he loomed above her. For a moment, Kagome thought he might have been Sesshoumaru, dressed up to fool her and get the Shikon shards. In the same moment she thought that, she also realized the shards on her necklace, and the necklace in general, were the only pieces of clothing she had on.

Kagome felt her face heat considerably and she began to push against Inu Yasha, wanting him to get out of her way so that she could get to her clothes, but he didn't move. Instead, he picked up his hands and placed them on her icy shoulders.

"You're cold," he said to Kagome.

In any other situation, she would have said that he sounded like a complete fool, but not this one. In this situation, he sounded almost sincere.

Suddenly, she found herself wrapped in his robe. "Here, this will keep you warm," he whispered gently into Kagome's ear.

His hands closed around hers and tugged at her, urging her towards the shore, but she didn't move. She was too stunned by what he was doing and how he was acting towards her. Was Inu Yasha truly being kind, or was he simply going after the Shikon shards again?

"Kagome, you're going to get sick if you stay out here in this lake any longer," she heard his voice say.

Kagome suddenly had a thought about his voice. It was so delicate and soft, as if it was a volcano rumbling gently as a reminder of its strength. Strength that could be drawn on or ignored at one's own risk.

"Kagome?"

She chose the former, falling against his warm body. Inu Yasha's arms closed about her tightly, pulling her against him. Kagome felt his cheek resting against the top of her head, and then his lips fell on her hair. She held tightly to his hakama, shivering violently from the cold that was still around her legs and the warmth that was spreading from Inu Yasha.

"Kagome, come on, let's get you dressed and back in bed before you freeze into an icicle, okay?" Inu Yasha asked, drawing her towards the shore.

They made it to the edge of the forest before Kagome stopped moving and looked up into his face.

"Kagome?"

She buried her face in his chest, clutching at him. "Inu Yasha," she whispered, "I'm so cold."

"I know, I'm trying to get you back to your bedroll and get you into warm clothes, but you're not making it easy," he replied. She couldn't detect any sarcasm in his voice as he said this, as would have been there at any other time.

"Cold… P-please, w-warm me up…" she stammered.

Inu Yasha sat, pulling Kagome down with him and setting her in his lap. He pulled her legs over his own and laid her head against his shoulders. She turned into his body, thinking about how wonderful it was to be enveloped in such blissful warmth. She never wanted to be let out of it. She wanted to stay in his arms until the world fell apart around her and there was nothing left to sustain her or her lover except their love.

Kagome's chilled fingers brushed through Inu Yasha's hair. "Inu… Yasha…"

"I'm here," he replied, taking her hands in his. "What is it?" he asked.

Kagome opened her eyes, and looked up at Inu Yasha. "I… I… I love… you…" she whispered.

"Don't say that. You're in shock from the cold water, Kagome," he told her, but she heard the longing in his voice, hoping beyond all hope that she was telling him the truth.

Using all her strength, Kagome pulled herself up in Inu Yasha's lap. "I'll prove it to you," she told him. "I'll keep _you_ warm."

"Hey, hey, you're the—" Inu Yasha was cut off by Kagome bringing her lips to his.

She felt him sigh against the kiss, his golden eyes drifting closed. His arms wrapped around her back, clutching her against his body. When he broke away, she felt heat rise to her face; she knew that she was flushed.

"Promise that you'll keep me warm?" she asked him childishly, leaning her semi-warm cheek against his.

"I promise that I'll keep you warm, if you promise you won't run away from me."

"If I promise that I won't run away from you, then you have to give me all the love I need…"

"All the love you need…" he whispered against her lips, gently trailing them over hers.

She nodded. "…always and forever…"

-Owari-

.o0OO0o.

Like I said, if you want more, convince me with a pliable plot or something or another idea for another pairing. Seriously, if you want a Miroku and Sango pairing, give me a catch phrase, title, three line conversation and I'll turn something out. It's the little things that inspire me.


End file.
